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Palmyra
Ancient city in central Syria

Palmyra

Palmyra is an ancient city in central Syria.

Plan a trip to Palmyra→From Aleppo

It is located in the eastern part of the Levant, and archaeological finds date back to the Neolithic period, and documents first mention the city in the early second millennium BCE. Palmyra changed hands on a number of occasions between different empires before becoming a subject of the Roman Empire in the first century CE.

Get in

Getting to Palmyra

Direct minibuses run to downtown Palmyra (Tadmur) regularly from southern station in Homs (50,000 SYP = 4.5 USD, 2h30). There are also big long-distance buses to Deir-az-Zur passing Palmyra, having stop on the bypass, approx. 4 km NE of Palmyra Museum, departing from northern station in Homs (100,000 SYP =

See

Worth seeing

Many of the historic sites have been destroyed or severely damaged. Anyway there is still so much to see. Mines from the war are supposed to be removed. The historic sites are very large, so it's recommended to stay full day or even overnight. All sites are freely accessible 24/7, no admission fees. As of Dec25 there are very few tourists (locals say less than 20 tourists per day).

  1. 01
    Great Colonnade at Palmyra
  2. 02
    Temple of Bel

    Founded in 32 AD and dedicated to the Mesopotamian god Bel.

  3. 03
    Palmyra Castle

    A castle built by the Mamluks in the 13th century.

  4. 04
    Roman Theatre at Palmyra

    Funerary Towers.

  5. 05
    Palmyra Museum

    Damaged during the Civil war, closed as of Dec25.

Do

Things to do

Camel ride. Camel race. If you visited Palmyra around October/November time you might have been lucky enough to be there for the week of camel racing. This was an exciting day out, especially if you had gotten a lift in one of the many vehicles travelling round the track, alongside the camels.

  1. 01
    Hike

    See the external link for the GPS track of the route.

  2. 02
    Run

    See the external link for the GPS track of the route.

Eat

Where to eat

Traditional Palymra Restaurant -- very bad reputation, with several differently priced but identical menus, tendency to recycle uneaten food, etc. New Palmyra Restaurant / Pancake House on the main street for most tourists, al-Quwatli. This was a traditional Palmyra restaurant - catering for the tourist hordes. The owner was well connected with an army of scouts corralling tourists into the restaurant.

Text adapted from Wikipedia and Wikivoyage, CC BY-SA 4.0. Photograph: Wikimedia Commons (see Commons), Wikimedia Commons.